KUSI Accuses CNN Of Declining An Interview After Finding Out Reporter Was Pro-Wall

2:35 PM 01/11/2019 | Media

Amber Athey | White House Correspondent

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KUSI, a local TV station in San Diego, California, claims that CNN declined an interview with one of its reporters after finding out the reporter thinks a border wall is effective.

KUSI reported on air Thursday that CNN reached out to them and requested the station provide one of its reporters for a segment on the “debate surrounding the border wall and government shutdown.” The station offered Dan Plante, who frequently reports from the border and has spoken to a number of Border Patrol agents who have concluded that a border wall is effective at curbing illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

Steve Cohen, KUSI’s news director, told The Daily Caller in a phone interview that KUSI warned CNN in its offer that Plante would likely not conform to the cable network’s desired narrative on the wall.

Aerial view of a group of Honduran migrants traveling in the Central American caravan, crossing the Mexico-US border fence to San Diego County, as seen from Playas de Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on December 12, 2018. – Thousands of Central American migrants have trekked for over a month in the hopes of reaching the United States. (Photo by GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP/Getty Images)

CNN claims that they reached out to several local reporters for the planned segment and didn’t end up interviewing any of them — and it wasn’t because of their politics.

“We called several local stations to book someone for a show. We didn’t end up booking any of them. That happens many times every single day,” a CNN spokesperson said in a statement provided to The Daily Caller. “We did, however, book a reporter from KUSI for a story on immigration and the border wall on CNN in November. This is a nonstory.”

Cohen admitted that CNN never explicitly indicated that they were declining to interview Plante over his reporting that walls work.